Tyrrell Hatton was a force to be reckoned with in the 2023 Ryder Cup. He was undefeated, winning three times and halving once in the four matches he played in Rome. As one of the strongest performers for Team Europe, Hatton prides himself on the fact that he made it to the team based on his performance. That has been the case for all three of his appearances so far. However, the 33-year-old might break that streak in 2025.

Being a LIV golfer, Hatton doesn’t receive as many opportunities as his peers to gain Ryder Cup points. The only time he does gather them is during DP World Tour events and the majors. Playing in the last major of the season, he was asked about possibly missing out on qualification via merit. To that, Tyrrell answered the media, “One thing I’m proud of the last three Ryder Cups I’ve played is that I’ve made the team automatically.”

Qualifying on merit is a matter of pride for him, and he is determined to push for it as much as he can. He continued, “Sure, since I joined LIV, I knew that was going to make things a lot harder for me to make it a fourth time. Yeah, I guess for self-pride, I’d love to keep that streak going of being an automatic pick. That will make it even more pleasing, rewarding because I know that I’ve had a lot less tournaments than the other guys to do it.”

The fact that Hatton has only played a fraction of the tournaments as his peers makes it even more impressive. If he ends up qualifying on merit, it will give him the confidence that the few appearances that he made in the majors and the European circuit were enough to surpass what everyone else did. The 1-time PGA Tour champion has been doing well in majors this year. He made the cut in all three that have been completed so far. Hatton’s best finish was a T4 in the U.S. Open at Oakmont. On the DP World Tour, the Englishman has only played and won the 2025 Hero Dubai Desert Classic back in January. These performances have placed him at 4th on the Team Europe Ryder Cup standings, almost 2100 pts short of the leader, Rory McIlroy.

Coming back to the press conference at Royal Portrush, he was also asked if he would change his approach in the last round of The Open 2025, knowing that a Ryder Cup spot is up for grabs. Hatton replied, “Not really. Just going out there, just the boring stuff of trying your best on every shot, reacting to the shot that’s in front of you, and what that shot looks like, and just going with that. As I said, I’ll try my best tomorrow and hopefully have a good day.”

After 54 holes, Hatton is lined up for another strong finish in a major this season. He sits at T4, 6 strokes away from the leader, Scottie Scheffler. Another top 5 finish would put him in a very strong position. He might even retain the 2nd position that he held for long before Tommy Fleetwood nearly broke his PGA Tour winless streak in the 2025 Travelers Championship. To be fair, even if he doesn’t make it on merit, he will surely attract the interest of Luke Donald. Hatton holds an impressive record of 5-4-2 in the Ryder Cup.

No one except Rory McIlroy has mathematically qualified for Team Europe yet as he tops the standings with 3311.95 points. The leaderboard will shift after The Open concludes in Northern Ireland, but Rory’s spot won’t be impacted. Having said that, what will Luke Donald’s final Ryder Cup team look like at Bethpage?

Luke Donald finds strength in Tyrrell Hatton, Rory McIlroy, & Co.

Having players like Rory McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton at your disposal gives Luke Donald a huge advantage in the 2025 Ryder Cup. The fact that both are lined up for automatic qualification makes it even better. But they are not the only strong contenders who deserve a spot in Team Europe. Players like Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, and Justin Rose have consistently proved they can perform under pressure. Even though neither of them has won a title this year, they are extremely strong performers in team format events.

Young guns like Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland bring a lot of power and unique skills to the team. Their confidence and drive will help motivate everyone to push for a win in New York. Both Sepp Straka and Robert MacIntyre have been in spectacular form this year. MacIntyre came off 2 spectacular PGA Tour wins in 2024, and Straka has already won 2 titles this year.

Then Luke Donald will have the option for great captain’s picks from the likes of the Hojgaard brothers, Thomas Detry, Niklas Norgaard, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tom McKibbin, Aaron Rai, or maybe even have an experienced candidate like Sergio Garcia in the team. Looking at the list of players, Team Europe certainly seems very strong going into Bethpage Black in September.